One of the problems with existing griddles is the muffin damage from "turnover" of the muffin-containing cups and "withdrawal" of the muffins from the cups in preparation for final unloading to a conveyor belt. Present continuous griddles dig the trailing edge of the cups into the muffin and change muffin shape. Muffins also tend to bake non-uniformly during hearth finishing, especially on the leading sides on the lower hearth flight, because they are not withdrawn from the cup flights during hearth but are contained in the unventilated portion of the enclosure. On the other hand, muffins which are fully withdrawn from the cup tend to shift from the center of the flight so they will not brown evenly. Also, in present muffin turn-ups for off-loading, the muffin falls from the cup at turnover and slides a short distance on the bottom of the hearth flight. If adjustment is too close, the trailing edge of the cup will pinch the muffin leaving a lip on the product.
The cornmeal which is used to dust griddle cups presents a real fire hazard. During a production run, cornmeal tends to pile up within the griddle principally because an air blow is used to clean the cups while inverted which blows cornmeal around inside the griddle redistributing it.
On present griddles, traveling covers mount on fixed downward slopes during the cover flight. They do not touch the cup at all until just about the last 2 or 3 feet of travel so that the dough cannot freely rise and develop the desired hockey-puck shape during grilling without constriction by the cover. There is an established need for a cup flight having adjustable cover clearance above the cups so that there will be controlled rise of the doughball in the cup to give flattened tops to the muffins.